Author Archives: marcia

Alexandra David-Neel in Tibet

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The Amazing Tibetan Adventures of Alexandra David-Neel

n 1965 Lawrence Durrell, on assignment from a popular woman’s magazine, interviewed the 96-year-old Alexandra David-Neel at her home in Digne, in the south of France. Famous for her earlier adventures in India, China and Tibet, and the books recording these, Alexandra is best known for her daring journey to Lhasa over the Trans-Himalayas in midwinter 1924. Accompanied by her adopted son Lama Yongden, she was disguised as a beggar/pilgrim and eluded soldiers, brigands and officials of the British Empire. David-Neel became the first European woman to reach Tibet’s forbidden capital, and she remains the most accurate, extensive source on the arcane Buddhist practices of a nearly vanished world. Durrell called her “the most astonishing woman of our time.”

When we interviewed the renowned novelist in a Greek neighborhood in the South Bronx, while researching our biography, “The Secret Lives of Alexandra David-Neel,” he fondly recalled her eternally youthful air. Although worn down by the hardship of her travels, Alexandra kept a radiance that had drawn countless admirers, including generals and heads of state. She was born Alexandrine Marie David (a distant relation of the artist David) in Paris in 1868 to a left-leaning father, a publisher and a puritanical mother. Alexandra began her career as a lovely opera singer, complimented by Massenet. When her voice broke, she became a strongly feminist writer, while her interest in Eastern philosophy matured. In 1904 she married Philip Neel, manager of the French railways in Tunisia. It was a marriage of convenience for both parties, and Alexandra soon took off for India. Her one significant love affair, with Sidkeong Tulku, the young, handsome, reforming Maharaja of Sikkim, ended tragically when he died in pain, poisoned, in 1914.

Alexandra, for solace and enlightenment, turned to the Gomchen of Lachen, the Hermetic master of a small monastery in a mountain village near the Tibetan border. Stout and ugly, the locals believed he could fly through the air, kill men by a glance and command demons. But the British authorities respected him, and with this wizard Alexandra seemed to magically learn Tibetan. His occult knowledge formed the basis of her “Magic and Mystery in Tibet,” translated round the world. The practices the Gomchen taught her — such as tumo, breathing to create heat to ward off the piercing cold of the snows — permitted David-Neel to succeed on her journey via unexplored country to Tibet’s capital. Her “My Journey to Lhasa,” published in New York, London and Paris in 1927, became an instant classic of travel and adventure.

Above Lachen was the Gomchen’s cave, at 12,000 feet, where he spent most of his time in meditation. Along with her adopted son, 15-year-old Lama Yongden, Alexandra took up residence in a nearby, sparsely furnished cave, to which she adjoined her tent, cooking utensils and her bathing tub. She agreed to become the Gomchen’s disciple and promised him obedience. For the next two years, in cave, tent or cell, she studied tantric Buddhism with the Gomchen by conversation, reading texts, practice and telepathy. The Gomchen and Alexandra would sit together in silence, focused on the imagined aspects of a deity — perhaps Vajrapani, the protector — their goal being an entirely unified mental state. Afterward the Gomchen would quiz his pupil, who became sufficiently adept that in her trek to Lhasa she could receive messages “written on the wind.”

Alexandra became adept at tumo breathing, involving meditation on the fire within. For a final exam she bathed in a mountain stream on a moonlit night, then sat naked, meditating until dawn. She caught a cold, but tumo would save her life on the journey to Lhasa. First, she visited the Panchen Lama, second in the hierarchy to the Dalai Lama, at Shigatse, Tibet, crossing the forbidden border. She was impressed by the Panchen’s erudition, and she realized that in Tibet she was coming in contact with a wise, civilized people. In contrast, the British Political Officer, Sir Charles Bell, despite being a Tibet enthusiast, had Alexandra expelled from both Tibet and Sikkim.

Undaunted, Alexandra headed for Kum Bum monastery in Eastern Tibet via China. The Manchu dynasty had collapsed, China was in turmoil, but Alexandra pushed on past brigands and warlords and immersed herself in the monastic life and the study of rare manuscripts at Kum Bum. She observed the practices of Bon, an ancient faith, and she engaged in some of their occult practices. In August 1922, with the help of another learned British official, Sir George Pereira, Alexandra began her zigzag journey to Lhasa. Alexandra was 55 when, along with Yongden, she defeated the fierce Himalayan winter and rugged terrain to achieve her goal.

The epic story of Alexandra and Yongden’s reaching Lhasa is too incredible to summarize here. Victorious, Alexandra descended to India, flaunted her triumph before British officials, and sailed for France. She made her home at Digne at the foot of the Basses-Alpes, which she joked were “Himalayas for pygmies.” She stocked her villa Samten Dzong (fortress of meditation) with a collection of tankas, masks, prayer rugs, manuscripts and photos — a miniature Tibet. She even brought home a necklace of gold coins, a gift from Sidkeong. She had refused to spend even one, no matter how desperate her need.

to read more, go to:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-foster/alexanda-david-neel-adventures_b_1082451.html?ref=religion

Bowser Beer for Dogs

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OK, so maybe your pooch likes to hang out on the couch and watch the game, now there is something for the thirsty guy:

 Bowser Beer For Dogs Earns World Record

First Posted: 11/8/11 06:49 PM ET Updated: 11/8/11 06:49 PM ET

If ever there was an achievement that deserved a toast, a beer for dogs would certainly be it.

And the makers of Bowser Beer, a brand brewed specifically for pooches, have double the cause to enjoy a little hair of the dog: Their achievement has been officially as honored as the first beer for dogs by World Records Academy, an online database of offbeat achievements.

Bowser Beer, which unlike human beer has no hops, no carbonation and no alcohol, has been around since 2007, but the honor still gives spokeswoman Jenny Brown a reason to hoist a glass in celebration — even as she’s trying to comprehend the complete magnitude of having official recognition for making the first beer specifically for dogs.

“I’m surprised it didn’t show up in my Google alerts,” she told HuffPost Weird News when informed of the honor.

The concept of a beer brewed for dogs sounds potentially dangerous since hops, alcohol and carbonation are all bad for canine tummies, but Brown insists her pooch pilsners and labrador lagers are safe for dogs and their owners.

“Hops are toxic, so our beer is flavored with a sweet malt barley,” she said. “It’s human grade, which is good because some people drink it by accident.”

The beer is currently made near Phoenix, but the whole brouhaha first began four years ago when Brown was living in Washington, D.C., and created some pretzel treats for some dogs for a holiday party.

After so many customers scooped them up, she decided to offer them at a Pet Expo. Then it hit her, “What goes better with pretzels than beer?”

The obvious answer was “nothing,” so Brown and family brewed up a beef-and-malt-barley-flavored non-alcoholic beverage that she gave to her dogs to sample.

After four prototypes, there was a clear winner and that became the basis of Bowser Beer. Since that auspicious beginning, Brown and her brewing brood have added a chicken flavor called “Cock-A-Doodle Brew.”

Bowser Beer is currently available in more than 40 states and Brown has a team of taste-testing terriers — among other breeds — to ensure quality control.

“Some dogs like it straight from the bottle, others like it over food and others like it frozen,” she said.

Although Brown makes sure to inform potential customers that her hound hooch won’t get schnauzers soused, she admits some people are disappointed by that.

“Some people say, ‘Oh, I’d like to get my dog drunk,’ and I say, ‘But who’s going to walk you home?'” she said. “There was one guy who told me, ‘My dog prefers double malt scotch to single,’ and I thought, ‘How sad that he knows the difference.'”

for the video, go to from whence the article came(th):   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/08/cheers-bowser-beer-first-beer-for-dogs_n_1071762.html?ref=weird-news

CME Alert

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fr/spaceweather.com

INCOMING CME? Yesterday, Nov. 9th around 1330 UT, a magnetic filament in the vicinity of sunspot complex 1342-1343 erupted, producing a M1-class solar flare and hurling a CME into space. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) recorded the progress of the expanding plasma cloud:

Although the eruption was not squarely aimed at Earth, the CME is likely to deliver a glancing blow to our planet’s magnetic field on Nov. 11th or 12th. This could add to the impact of another CME already en route. The earlier cloud was propelled by a filament eruption (movie) on Nov. 7th and is also expected to deliver a glancing blow on Nov. 11th.

Analyses of these events are still preliminary, and the forecast may change. For now it is safe to say that high-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras on Nov. 11-12.

Einstein’s Ghosts

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Do Einstein’s Laws Prove Ghosts Exist?

Benjamin Radford, Life’s Little Mysteries Contributor
Date: 09 November 2011 Time: 11:31 AM ET
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Albert Einstein ghosts proof

Every night, amateur ghost-hunting groups across the country head out into abandoned warehouses, old buildings and cemeteries to look for ghosts. They often bring along electronic equipment that they believe helps them locate ghostly energy.

Despite years of efforts by ghost hunters on TV and in real life, we still do not havegood proof that ghosts are real. Many ghost hunters believe that strong support for the existence of ghosts can be found in modern physics. Specifically, that Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientific minds of all time, offered a scientific basis for the reality of ghosts.

A recent Google search turned up nearly 8 million results suggesting a link between ghosts and Einstein’s work covering the conservation of energy. This assertion is repeated by many top experts in the field. For example, ghost researcher John Kachuba, in his book “Ghosthunters” (2007, New Page Books), writes, “Einstein proved that all the energy of the universe is constant and that it can neither be created nor destroyed. … So what happens to that energy when we die? If it cannot be destroyed, it must then, according to Dr. Einstein, be transformed into another form of energy. What is that new energy? … Could we call that new creation a ghost?”

 

This idea shows up — and is presented as evidence for ghosts — on virtually all ghost-themed websites as well. For example, a group called Tri County Paranormal states, “Albert Einstein said that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change from one form to another. When we are alive, we have electrical energy in our bodies. … What happens to the electricity that was in our body, causing our heart to beat and making our breathing possible? There is no easy answer to that.” [6 Paranormal Videos Debunked]

In fact, the answer is very simple, and not at all mysterious. After a person dies, the energy in his or her body goes where all organisms’ energy goes after death: into theenvironment. When a human dies, the energy stored in his or her body is released in the form of heat, and transferred into the animals that eat us (i.e., wild animals if we are left unburied, or worms and bacteria if we are interred), and the plants that absorb us. If we are cremated, the energy in our bodies is released in the form of heat and light.

When we eat dead plants and animals, we are consuming their energy and converting it for our own use. Food is metabolized when digested, and chemical reactions release the energy the animal needs to live, move, reproduce, etc. That energy does not exist in the form of a glowing, ghostly ball of electromagnetic energy, but rather in the form of heat and chemical energy.

Many ghost hunters say they can detect the electric fields created by ghosts. And while it’s true that the metabolic processes of humans and other organisms actually do generate very low-level electrical currents, these are no longer generated once the organism dies. Because the source of the energy stops, the electrical current stops — just as a light bulb turns off when you switch off the electricity running to it.

Most of the “energy” that any dead person leaves behind takes years to re-enter the environment in the form of food; the rest dissipates shortly after death, and is not in a form that can be detected years later with popular ghost-hunting devices like electromagnetic field (EMF) detectors. Ghost hunters who repeat the claim that Einstein’s theories provide a sound basis for ghosts reveal less about ghosts than they do about their poor understanding of basic science. Ghosts may indeed exist, but neither Einstein nor his laws of physics suggests that ghosts are real.

Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine and author of “Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries.” His website is www.BenjaminRadford.com.

from:    http://www.livescience.com/16951-einstein-physics-ghosts-proof.html

 

El Hierro – Economic Impact of Major Explosion

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El Hierro Volcano eruption : Economic impact on El Hierro and the Canary Islands if an aerial eruption would occur

Last update: November 9, 2011 at 4:36 pm by By 

A quick exposure-risk picture of what could be affected should a full blown eruption occur

El Hierro Island has 10,960 inhabitants producing a GDP per capita of around 8000 euros, the equivalent of around 88 million Euros.

The economy is sustained via livestock(goats, sheep and cattle – milk for cheese), agriculture (fruits and wine), fishing (tuna etc.) and tourism (not as great as the rest of the Canary Islands – they do mostly rural/adventure tourism and have around 2000 beds.

La Restinga is the main port for fishing,  already strongly affected by the eruption. Water temperatures in the vicinity of the volcano / port have been measured at 35.3 degrees instead of the usual 24 degrees and the poisoned water has killed almost all marine life near the port.

Livestock (as seen in previous eruptions, especially in Iceland) can be killed if fluoride poisoning occurs of water sources.

The rest of the Canary Islands relies greatly on tourism (32% of the GDP) and could be affected significantly if El Hierro is to produce an aerial eruption. Tourism accounts for around 14 billion Euros of the 43.248 billion Euro GDP.

Over 9 million tourists visit the Canary Islands each year, with around 16.9 million people moving through the 8 airports each year (around 46300 people a day). Should all the airports be out for a week at anytime, the predicted loss in GDP would be around 400 million Euros in tourism losses.

As much of the other GDP is centralized on the islands, limited losses would occur in other sectors, apart from directly affected losses in the livestock, fishing and agriculture sector.

What is also interesting is that a €54 million project is currently being undertaken on El Hierro to create a 11MW wind farm and two hydroelectric projects using an extinct volcano to be the first island around the world to have complete energy self-sufficiency. Water release from the extinct volcano (when pumped up 700m), will create 11.3 MW. This system is expected to save €4 million.

It is unknown how much this would be affected.

Tsunami risk we will not mention at this point, however there is always the chance of underwater landslides, on-shore landslides through seismic activity.

Wind for El Hierro can be seen in the last 18 hours here.

It can be seen that at the moment, winds are favourable with winds blowing from the north to the south. This means that should there be an aerial eruption, the other islands in the Canaries would not be significantly affected by the resulting ash cloud.

In fact, the general wind direction is a NNE-northerly, meaning that it is unlikely that for the month of November there could be a major ash impact on the rest of the islands. We thank windfinder.com  and recommend their service.

for more, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/11/09/el-hierro-volcano-eruption-economic-impact-on-el-hierro-and-the-canary-islands-if-an-aerial-eruption-would-occur/

Turkey Aftershock

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November 10 aftershock near Van, Turkey – Japanese aid worker killed in collapse of Bayram Hotel

Last update: November 10, 2011 at 4:08 pm by By 

Earthquake overview : The already so hard hit Van Ercis area was hit by another earthquake – Aftershock in the evening of November 9 2011. Additional damage and injuries are almost a certainty

Update 10/11 – 15:40 UTC :
Early Thursday, the dead body of a Japanese aid worker, Atsushi Miyazaki, was pulled out the rubble of the Bayram Hotel in Van, Turkey. His friend, another member of Japan’s Association for Aid and Relief, could be rescued by SAR workers

Update 10/11 – 15:35 UTC :
Angry residents protested Thursday that authorities should have closed the 2 collapsed hotels. Both hotels were damaged by the October 23 earthquake. Police used pepper spray to halt the protests.

Update 10/11 – 08:49 UTC :
Various reports in Turkish newspapers are talking about people still being buried under the debris of the hotels. The official AFAD death toll remains at 7, but we expect that it will increase slightly the following hours.

Update 10/11 – 05:00 UTC :
In Edremit, 100 people have been injured. This town was right by the epicenter.

Update 10/11 – 04:45 UTC :
KOERI has said that they expect around 80 deaths. However, given the fact that only 4 buildings were inhabited at the time of collapse, it is hoped that this is not true.

Update 10/11 – 04:40 UTC : Contrary to early opinions, only 36 people are expected to have been in the Bayram Hotel at the time of collapse. (From the 2 hotels that collapsed, 23 have been rescued, 7 found dead).

A major decision by the Ministry of Education. They have announced that schools in Van will not be opened until after the earthquake of December 5, 2011 (delayed from November 14, 2011).

Update 10/11 – 04:35 UTC :
If we focus on the Bayram Hotel picture for a moment, it can be seen that the structure has a weak first floor (higher than the rest of the building) which could indicate what is called a “soft storey collapse”, where the first floor collapses and then the rest of the building following it.

Update 10/11 – 04:30 UTC :
According to reports, 7 people have been found dead so far, with 22 people recovered alive.
Some good news was that 22 of the 25 buildings that collapsed were unoccupied at the time.
The Aslan Otel (or Lion Hotel) also collapsed.

Update 10/11 – 00:45 UTC :  The SAR (Search and Rescue) operations are continuing. We will have to wait a couple of hours until daylight to get more information from the epicenter area.

Update :  This earthquake has killed at least three people and collapsed 21 buildings including a hotel in eastern Turkey. More people are believed to have been trapped under the rubble. SAR (Search and Rescue) teams are trying to find possible survivors.

Update :  Nine planes carrying almost 300 additional rescue personnel have been dispatched to the quake region.

Update :   Koeri puts the epicenter right on the town of Edremit. It is unclear what effects the earthquake has had there in this town on the outskirts of Van located on Lake Van.

for more information, updates, and videos, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/11/09/aftershock-near-van-turkey-creates-more-destruction-and-human-misery/

Jeff Masters on Alaska Weather, Sean, etc.

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Dr. Jeff Masters’ WunderBlog
Alaska blizzard pushes 8-foot storm surge into Nome; Sean heads towards Bermuda
Posted by: JeffMasters, 2:47 PM GMT on November 10, 2011 +3
The most powerful storm to affect the Bering Sea coast of Alaska since 1974 is slowly winding down today, after pounding Alaska’s west coast and Eastern Siberia with hurricane-force winds, a destructive storm surge more than 8 feet high, waves up to 40 feet high, and heavy snow. The highest wind gust recorded during the storm, 89 mph, was at Wales at the western tip of the Seward Peninsula, which forms the U.S. side of the Bering Strait. Hurricane force gusts were observed at seven locations in Alaska:Cape Lisburne… 81 mph at 7 am Wed
Gambell… … … 74 mph at 6 pm Tue
Kotzebue… … ..74 mph at 6 am Wed
Point Hope… … 78 mph at 5 am Wed
Savoonga… … ..76 mph at 7 pm Tue
Tin City… … ..85 mph at 12 am Wed
Wales… … … ..89 mph at 1:42 am Wed

A storm surge of 8.6 feet hit Nome, Alaska near 9 pm EST last night, pushed inland by sustained winds that reached 45 mph, gusting to 61 mph. Large waves on top of the surge encrusted with sea ice battered the coast, causing extensive damage and coastal flooding. Significant wave heights at the Bering Sea buoy north of the Aleutian Islands reached 40 feet during the peak of the storm. The last time Nome, Alaska saw a storm this strong was November 11 – 12 1974,when the city experienced sustained winds of 46 mph with gusts to 69 mph, a pressure that bottomed out at 969 mb, and a storm surge of 13 feet. The center of yesterday’s storm moved ashore over eastern Siberia near 12 UTC with a central pressure of 945 mb. The storm’s central pressure had risen to 958 mb this morning, with the center of the storm now located north of Siberia over the Arctic.


Figure 1. Observed storm surge at Nome, Alaska (green line). MLLW = Mean Lower Low Water, the water level at the lowest tide of the month. The top storm surge of 8.6 feet occurred near 02 GMT this morning (9 pm EST November 9, 2011.) Image credit: NOAA Tides and Currents.

My related blog posts:
Climate change likely to worsen erosion along the Alaska coast
The future of intense winters storms

Tropical Storm Sean
Tropical Storm Sean is on the move towards the northeast, towards a brush with Bermuda. Infrared satellite loopsreveal that Sean has not changed much in organization this morning. The storm has a respectable amount of heavy thunderstorm activity near its center that is relatively shallow, and Sean has at times been able to close off an eyewall, and has a ragged-looking eye. Bermuda radar shows one strong rain band from Sean has affected the island, with the bulk of Sean’s heavy thunderstorms well to the island’s southwest. Sustained winds at the Bermuda airport have been under 30 mph this morning, and Bermuda picked up 0.08″ of rain yesterday, and 0.24″ as of 9 am EST today. Sustained winds at buoy 41048, about 300 miles west of Bermuda were 40 mph at 7:50 am EST. Strong upper-level winds out of the west are creating about 20 knots of wind shear over Sean, which is low enough to allow some slow development. Ocean temperatures have fallen to 25°C (77°F), which just below the 26°C threshold typically needed for a tropical storm to maintain its strength.


Figure 2. Morning satellite image of Tropical Storm Sean.

Forecast for Sean
The latest SHIPS model forecast predicts wind shear will remain about where it is now through Friday morning. However, ocean temperatures will gradually cool to 24°C during this time, and it is questionable whether Sean will have a favorable enough environment to strengthen into a hurricane. The computer models show little development of Sean, with none of our reliable models predicting it will become a hurricane. Bermuda is the only land area that need concern itself with Sean, as the storm is now caught in a trough of low pressure that will accelerate the storm to the northeast. The center of Sean could pass close enough to Bermuda to bring the island heavy rain squalls and sustained winds of 40 – 45 mph on Friday. NHC is giving a 52% chance that Bermuda will receive tropical storm-force winds of 39 mph. Wind shear will rise to 30 – 50 knots on Friday, which should be able to rip the storm apart by Saturday.

Jeff Masters

Bye, Bye #55

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So, YU55 has been here and gone.  Check out a video and more:

 

Huge Asteroid 2005 YU55 Zips by Earth in Rare Close Flyby

by Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer
Date: 08 November 2011 Time: 06:28 PM ET
Asteroid 2005 YU55
This radar image of asteroid 2005 YU55 was obtained on Nov. 7, 2011, at 11:45 a.m. PST (2:45 p.m. EST/1945 UTC), when the space rock was at 3.6 lunar distances, which is about 860,000 miles, or 1.38 million kilometers, from Earth.
CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech

An asteroid the size of a city block zoomed inside the moon’s orbit today (Nov. 8) in a rare flyby that marked the closest approach to Earth by such a big space rock in 35 years.

The asteroid 2005 YU55 came within 201,700 miles (324,600 kilometers) of Earth at 6:28 p.m. EST (2328 GMT) Tuesday evening before speeding off into deep space once again at about 29,000 mph (46,700 kph).

The space rock is about 1,300 feet (400 meters) wide. An asteroid this large hasn’t come so near to Earth since 1976 and won’t again until 2028, researchers said.

The asteroid encounter brought 2005 YU55 closer than the moon, which orbits Earth at an average distance of 238,864 miles (384,499 km). But there was never any danger that 2005 YU55 would slam into Earth today.

Scientists eagerly awaited the close encounter all the same, since it’s providing an unprecedented opportunity to learn more about the asteroid and its orbit.

“We would really like to characterize it as much as possible, and learn about its past and about its future,” said Marina Brozovic, a scientist with NASA’s Near-Earth Object Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., before today’s flyby. “I really can’t wait to see the images.”

Photos and videos of asteroid 2005 YU55 released by NASA just before and during the flyby revealed the space rock to be a relatively round but lumpy object. [See the latest photos and videos of asteroid 2005 YU55]

Studying 2005 YU55

Astronomers are taking advantage of the close encounter with 2005 YU55, which was discovered in 2005 by Robert McMillan of the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

Scientists have trained a suite of instruments on the asteroid, including giant radio telescopes at the Arecibo observatory in Puerto Rico and NASA’s Deep Space Network facility in Goldstone, Calif.

The aim is to get a better idea of 2005 YU55’s size, surface features, rotational period and orbit, researchers said.

2005 YU55 makes one complete lap around the sun every 15 months. Astronomers have already determined that the asteroid poses no threat to Earth for at least the next century, but observations made during this close approach should help them predict its movements even further into the future.

“For many centuries, we’ll know exactly where this object is going to be,” Brozovic said.

NASA has already released a new image of 2005 YU55 taken by the big Goldstone antenna, with many more surely on the way. And several organizations, including the Clay Center Observatory in Massachusetts and the online telescope service Slooh, provided live webcasts of the space rock’s close flyby.

2005 YU55 sky chart
This sky chart shows the motion of asteroid 2005 YU55 as it zooms by Earth on the evening of Nov. 8, 2011.
CREDIT: Sky & Telescope magazine (http://SkyandTelescope.com)

Still visible in telescopes

Skywatchers under clear, dark skies still have a chance to spot 2005 YU55 before it disappears into deep space. The best time to look up is a few hours after closest approach, according to Sky & Telescope magazine.

You’ll need a telescope to find the space rock, which is relatively small and dim. Any scope with an aperture greater than 6 inches should be able to spot 2005 YU55, experts say.

The tricky part will be knowing where to look, since 2005 YU55 will be moving across the sky at about 7 degrees per hour (your clenched fist held at arm’s length measures about 10 degrees). You can look up the asteroid’s coordinates at JPL’s Solar System Dynamics website, which is found here:http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/.

if you missed the video, you can get it here, at the article’s source:   http://www.space.com/13549-huge-asteroid-2005yu55-close-earth-flyby.html

Video of El Hierro Volcano

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El Hierro Volcano (Canary Islands) : Red alert – video recorded from an helicopter on November 8

Last update: November 9, 2011 at 3:28 pm by By 

Update 09/11 – 15:09 UTC : 
Helicopter video footage from yesterday November 8 as published by Diario El Hierro (video recorded by the Cabildo El Hierro)

(video on website below or @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFaZK6rE2vM&feature=player_embedded)

YouTube Direkt

Update 09/11 – 14:01 UTC : 
– Joke has just reported that she had spoken to the technicians and the Cabildo (authorities).  The technicianstold her that the installation of the webcam was almost finished and that only the software had to be configured. The least that we can say is that this news is hopeful !
– Pevolca did meet at noon and as could be expected nothing new has been decided

Update 09/11 – 13:04 UTC : 
The Rámon Margalef has been throwing a buoy near the eruption vent yesterday. The ship is now circling the area. What the ship is doing know can be called a calculated risk. We have to admit that the ship is doing great work in continuous sampling of the emitted gases and the water (he has been observed many times at the edge of the stain the last couple of days). As Patrick Allard was telling in this article before, the composition of the gases is predominant in calculating the risk for the population.
– El Pinar webcam is live again, but it is hard to see any detail in the sea due to the back-light

Update 09/11 – 12:41 UTC : 
Picked up from the comments made below (Name and address known @ ER)
Cabildo de El Hierro and Telefonica are installing 2 webcams in La Restinga to enable people to follow LIVE the eruption events.
Cabildo de El Hierro y Telefónica ya están instalando 2 webcam en La Restinga para el seguimiento en directo del fenómeno eruptivo Twitter
If this message is confirmed, this is really good news, as Telefonica is the main telecommunications company in Spain and is maybe the only instance who is able to guarantee huge amounts of traffic.

Very Important Update 09/11 – 12:22 UTC :
– Scientists in La Restinga and Guardia Civil who is currently flying over the earlier jacuzzi location  have reported that the vent has probably closed completely. The activity has completely stopped at the moment. The Rámon Margalef Oceanographic ship is now close to the eruption vent is is probably taking gas samples and water samples.
We expect to publish images soon.
The closure of erupting vents is a normal phase in this kind of activity. This does not mean that the volcano activity is completely over. If the volcano continues in the same pattern, the seismic activity may getting stronger again as the magma trying to find his way to the surface has been blocked.

for more and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/